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Huskers Seal Big Ten Win at Penn Statehttp://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=211793441University Park, Pa. - Sam Haiby scored 12 of her team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter, including a 10-for-10 effort at the free throw line to seal Nebraska's 79-74 women's basketball win over Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday afternoon.

With the victory, Nebraska finished 9-9 in Big Ten regular-season play to secure either the No. 6 or No. 7 seed in next week's conference tournament in Indianapolis. Nebraska's seed, opponent and game time will not be known until after Sunday's regular-season Big Ten action. The Huskers improved to 14-15 overall, while Penn State slipped to 5-13 in the conference and 12-17 overall.

Nebraska built a 14-point lead at 50-36 early in the third quarter before Penn State rallied to tie the game at 57 just one minute into the fourth.

Then Haiby took over.

The 5-9 freshman point guard from Moorhead, Minn., broke the Lady Lions' press, which was effective in stifling the Huskers for much of the third quarter, for a driving layup. She then stole the Penn State inbounds pass, attacked the basket immediately and was fouled. She made both free throws to put the Big Red back up by two possessions at 61-57 with 8:48 left.

Penn State was never able to get closer than two points the rest of the way, in part thanks to big buckets from Taylor Kissinger, including her fourth three-pointer of the game with 3:05 left to put Nebraska up 68-63. Kissinger finished with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Haiby sank eight more free throws in the final 2:27 to push Nebraska's lead back to 79-72 with 17.6 seconds left to clinch the Huskers' seventh .500 or better Big Ten season in their eighth year in the conference. Haiby added five rebounds and three assists in an outstanding all-around effort.

Fellow freshmen Ashtyn Veerbeek, Leigha Brown and Kayla Mershon all contributed eight points, while Veerbeek added a team-high 10 rebounds for the Huskers. Kate Cain also contributed eight points, seven rebounds, four blocks, three assists and a steal in a solid performance.

Hannah Whitish and Nicea Eliely each pitched in six points, while Maddie Simon contributed five points for the Big Red in a winning effort.

As a team, Nebraska hit 48.3 percent (28-58) of its shots from the field, including 6-of-14 threes (.429). The Huskers were also a stellar 17-for-20 at the free throw line to earn their fifth Big Ten road win of the year.

The Huskers out-worked Penn State on the glass 39-33, to help overcome a 16-13 deficit in the turnover column.

• Nebraska takes aim at its third win in the last four games in hopes of finishing with a .500 league record at 9-9.
• Nebraska will be playing for positioning at next week’s Big Ten Conference Tournament in Indianapolis and could finish between fifth and 10th.
• The Huskers have at least one win over every team (Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue [2]) in the No. 4 through No. 10 spots in the conference.
• Nebraska is 1-5 against the top four teams in the Big Ten standings with two losses to No. 8 Maryland, two losses to No. 12 Iowa, a loss to previously ranked Rutgers and a loss at Michigan. Overall, 11 of Nebraska’s 15 losses have come against teams that have been ranked in the AP Top 25 at some point during the season, as the Huskers own the No. 21 Strength of Schedule in the country.

Scouting the Penn State Lady Lions

• The Penn State Lady Lions have won two of their past three games.
• Penn State is 5-12 in the conference, four of its wins have come vs. the 13th and 14th-place teams.
• Teniya Page, a 5-7 senior guard is a two-time All-Big Ten choice. This year, Page is averaging 19.3 points per game. She has racked up 2,072 points, 421 rebounds and 409 career assists.
• This season, Penn State is 10-16 with Page on the court and 2-1 without her. She missed PSU’s wins over Purdue (Feb. 21), Illinois (Feb. 24) and a loss at Michigan State (Feb. 27) after suffering an injury in a 97-67 loss at Minnesota.
• Page has scored in double figures 42 straight games and 103 in her career.
• Through the first 25 games, Page had taken 25.1 percent of PSU’s shots, including 27.7 percent of the team’s threes, and 35.9 percent of the free throws. With Page, Penn State averaged 68.2 points and allowed 71.5 points. In two wins without her, PSU averaged 74 points and allowed 63 points per contest, before being held to a season-low 48 points without her in a 57-48 loss at Michigan State.

Cyber Traveler

Water Boy

Matt: Ragged Game (favoring Penn State. Lady Huskers have misses a number of bunny lay-ups and made several errors to finish the first Quarter, probably a 6-10 point swing (in PSU favor) to end the quarter.